Local Search Engine Marketing Can Help Your Business

Written by: Jason Bayless | September 11, 2014

As many business owners know, developing a strong, outstanding online reputation is often the key to increased visibility and conversion rates in the internet realm. When business owners begin contemplating how they can cultivate a unique online advertising plan that will help maximize profits, it is important to remember that local search engine marketing is extremely important. Although defined broadly, local search is basically a process in which an individual goes online and searches for specific goods and services in a local region. This will typically involve typing in the city and state from which the goods or services are going to be attained.

Since more and more people are conducting local searches via internet with each passing day, it is important for businesses to capitalize on this reality through the implementation of a local search engine marketing plan. Local search engine marketing is the process in which a business optimizes its online presence such that it becomes one of the primary companies that a searcher sees in the search engine results pages. If you’re ready to implement a great local search engine marketing campaign to boost your visibility and conversion rates, keep the following principles in mind:

1. SEO Is Important.

While SEO is thought of in many different ways, it is basically the practice of using proven search engine optimization techniques to help a website article, blog post, or video earn top ranking in the results pages. There are a variety of SEO strategies that can be employed to accomplish this objective, including link building, keyword analysis, and content creation. When implemented systematically, these SEO techniques can help a business earn page one ranking in the results pages of major engines like Bing, Google, and Yahoo. Once this happens, you will gain the type of domain authority which helps optimize your presence in local searches. If you’re serious about optimizing your SEO campaign, you can visit a website like LocalSEOCompanies.com to find the right online advertising company to market your goods and services.

2. Directory Listings Are Important.

Although some people believe that getting a business website listed in a directory listing isn’t important, this is not the case. In discussing the fact that directory listings are still important, writer Brandon Seymour notes that “Directory listings certainly aren’t as popular as they once were, but they still hold a tremendous amount of value for local businesses if done right.” Since this is the case, an effective search engine marketing strategy you can implement is to gain presence in the best directory listing: Google + Local.

3. Content Optimization Is Important.

In the world of internet marketing, one old adage has retained presence and power: “Content is king.” Although trite, this expression has proved itself to be true in context of local search. In recognizing that creating great content is an effective way to earn page one ranking in the search engine results pages while simultaneously keeping individuals who perform local searches interested in your brand, you should remember to make content optimization an integral component of your local search engine marketing campaign. Some of the strategies you can implement to accomplish this objective include ensuring that your text is internally consistent, grammatically accurate, and fluff-free.

Yet another very important content optimization strategy you should implement to keep local searchers engaged with your product and/or service pages is “scannability.” As research regarding online reading has revealed, people who go online to do research typically do not read content in entirety. Rather, they quickly scan through it to find the data they’re looking for. Since this is the case, you should take the time to heighten the scannability of your content through the use of textual elements such as bullets, headers, and numbered lists.

Conclusion

As Jessica Lee points out in her important article “Google: Local Searches Lead 50% of Mobile Users to Visit Stores [Study],” “Searches with local intent are more likely to lead to store visits and sales within a day.” In recognizing that local searches have been numerically proven to improve sales at a rate that surpasses non-local searches, business owners that are interested in experiencing dynamic growth should recognize the powerful role that local search engine marketing can play in helping them generate wealth. By implementing some or all of the local search advertising strategies outlined above, you will likely witness your company undergo the continual expansion and growth you want.